I'm trying to design a teaching/troubleshooting tool that will show connectivity flow in a closed network. My idea is that it could be very simple, showing the path of data with lit icons representing responding devices and dark icons for non-responding devices. The icons would flip between light and dark as devices were brought up or shut down respectively, and perhaps the data paths could light up as it connects each device in turn. Flash seems like an attractive option, but I know next to nothing about how to program in Flash. Does anyone have any opinions on what would be an effective and simple program or programming language to create this in? Or better yet, does a program already exist that could be tweaked to show the layout that I need? Thanks for your thoughts!!!

You posted this in the wrong forum to begin with. The second bad option that you have done is proposed to steal someone else's hard earned work. Having great ideas is commendable, jumping the learning process is not. If you wish to design something then first learn the program that you need to make your designs work. Change Is Good http://www.citizenlink.org/Stopligh...

I wasn't really sure which forum this belonged in due to the possible solutions that might come up; I thought Windows XP was a general enough spot. I certainly am not going to steal someone's work; I never meant to infer that. I was referring to a lot of programs out there that are used to create flash pages or standalone programs, like SWiSH. I am not trying to skip the learning process; I'm looking for the best way to implement my idea, whether it's in Flash, VB, Java, or what have you. I've never done anything like this before; I don't want to start the project in one language if there is another better suited to it - that's all I'm asking.

There is a logic error in having dark devices since to be discovered in the first place all devices would have to be live to be mapped First requirement of your app would be that all devices were live on the network. There are many tools out there that can do network discovery and map the devices. Even Visio can do it these days.

The devices are always going to be there in the same configuration, so initial discovery won't be an issue. This is more for people to see how the connectivity flows for these particular devices on this particular topology. I will look into Visio. Thanks for the suggestion! Also, if you know any others I could look at, it would help to be able to compare them.